Donald Young Jr tweets "I thought this was supposed to be an inclusive gentleman's sport", while Ryan Harrison denies any inappropriate behaviour

By Dev Trehan

Ryan Harrison has dismissed an accusation of racism made against him by fellow American tennis player Donald Young as untrue.

Harrison beat Young 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in their first-round match at the New York Open ATP Tour event on Monday night.

I’m shocked and disappointed, Ryan Harrison, to hear you tell me how you really feel about me as a black tennis player in the middle of our NY match. I thought this was supposed to be an inclusive gentleman’s sport.

But in a social media post after the match, 28-year-old Young Jr alleged Harrison had made a racial remark about him.

He wrote on Twitter: "I'm shocked and disappointed, Ryan Harrison, to hear you tell me how you really feel about me as a black tennis player in the middle of our NY match.

"I thought this was supposed to be an inclusive gentleman's sport."

The accusations made by Donald Young tonight following our match are absolutely untrue. I’m extremely disappointed that someone would say this in reaction to a lost tennis match. Any video/audio will 100% clear me and I encourage anyone with the available resources to find it.

The 25-year-old wrote: "The accusations made by Donald Young tonight following our match are absolutely untrue. I'm extremely disappointed that someone would say this in reaction to a lost tennis match.

"Any video/audio will 100% clear me and I encourage anyone with the available resources to find it."

The ATP released a statement in response to the allegations on Tuesday. It read: "The ATP takes any allegations of racial prejudice extremely seriously. A further review of all video and audio recording from the match will take place as this matter is investigated further. No further comment will be made until the completion of the investigation."

Harrison, the tournament's No 6 seed, faces Croatia's Ivo Karlovic in the second round on Wednesday.

We will be covering the ATP ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Rio Open, Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, and ATP 500 Acapulco in February on sunshinegolf.info/tennis with news, previews, live blogs, reports and expert analysis.